This invention relates to an improved method and apparatus for forming a loop or handle in flexible packaging material.
Food product packaging often employs a sleeve or casing of flexible packaging material which is clipped or sealed at its opposite ends about the bulk product therein. The procedure for forming the package typically involves placement of the bulk product within a sleeve or tube of flexible packaging material that has been sealed or closed at one end. The sleeve is then tightly drawn about the product and the opposite end is sealed or clipped.
Before the opposite end is sealed, it is often desirable to loop the free end of the packaging material to form a handle to carry or move the product as shown in U.S. Pat. No. 3,383,754. During the packaging operation, however, whether a loop is formed or not, it is necessary to tightly pack the contents of the package within the sleeve of packaging material before sealing the opposite end of the package. Typically, this is done by manually pulling the sleeve containing the product against a stop. Thereafter, some type of fastener, such as a U-shaped metal clip, may be attached about the packaging material.
The manual operation of pulling the product and sleeve against a stop can lead to worker disability, such as carpal tunnel syndrome. Thus, there has developed a need for providing a packaging method and apparatus which will enable a product to be packaged tightly within flexible packaging material with minimum manual effort and which further enables the formation of a loop to be incorporated with the package of flexible material. It is against this background that the present invention was developed.